EUGENE, OR – The 6th ranked Oregon Ducks defeated the Arizona Wildcats 34-6 late Saturday night, securing the Pac-12 North Division Title in the process.
Question marks have surrounded Oregon’s offense all season, and despite only converting 53% of their third down attempts the Ducks offense showed moments of explosiveness they’ve been looking for. Marcus Arroyo’s offense averaged over 6-yards per play on first down and gained 471 total yards to Arizona’s 240.
Justin Herbert became the second player in Oregon history to break 10,000 total career yards and 100 total career touchdowns after he completed 20/28 passes for 333 yards, and 4 touchdowns. Herbert now trails only Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, who was in attendance, on the all-time Oregon stat list.
Leading the Ducks on the receiving end were Juwan Johnson and Johnny Johnson III, who posted similar nights of 5 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown, and 4 catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, respectively. Juwan Johnson’s longest catch of the night came off a 53-yard reverse flea flicker from Justin Herbert, who dropped the ball perfectly in stride for a touchdown.
Head Coach Mario Cristobal was a physical offensive lineman for the University of Miami between 1989-92 himself and understands the importance of winning battles up front. After the game he stated, “We felt to win this game that we were going to have to take control at the line of scrimmage”. Oregon’s defense dominated the front line, recording 9 tackles for loss and 6 sacks on the night.
The Ducks move to 9-1 on the season after the win, and Mario Cristobal knows his team’s goals are still in their control. “The best part about it is, and his feels like a broken record… but our guys still feel like we haven’t played our best football”.
Come December 4th, the Ducks will compete in the Pac-12 Championship game in Santa Clara for the first time since 2014, which will likely be against a highly ranked Utah Ute team. With a win, either team would have a strong argument for having a chance to compete in the College Football Playoff.
Injuries unfortunately struck Oregon again, the biggest of which hit came after freshman wide receiver Mycah Pittman suffered what appears to be a significant arm injury at the end of a play. Pittman struggled with injuries early in the season, and already missed 4 games due to a broken collarbone. The loss of Pittman definitely hurts, but the emergence of Juwan Johnson and Spencer Webb should fill the void if Pittman indeed misses significant time.
The Ducks will head to Arizona State next week before hosting in-state rival Oregon State for the ‘Civil War’ in their final home game of the season on November 30th.
